Ki banu duniya daa

October has started and Punjab witnesses a unique season and I am not talking about the winter that we welcome because it is the return of the NRI family but it is wedding season. We love this not because marriages are made in heaven or we need to get married to save the dwindling population of Sikhs (that is mis-information) but just we can give into our love for bling. We love the play of color, the work the bigger the better, ostentatious jewelry and out do one another in clothes, jewels, and marriages.

It is a rat race and this has given birth to an entire industry, from clothes, to trousseaus to jewelry to the tent-wallah to the mithia-wallah and most famous is we support two unique industries, construction and the banks.

Whenever there is a forthcoming marriage even if it is a year away, we start construction in the house; it is mandatory for us to construct. Be it even a small bathroom or just a little nukkad we love having the mistris over. It’s an excuse to get marble – sharble and more furniture from the latest designer. Everything has to be designer by the way, from the card that is printed to the box that has mithai that is also distinct and different from everyone. It can vary from laddoos , to the  exotic kiwi barfi to every kind of nut known to mankind. The latest entry has been chocolates shaped by a chocolatier who fashions chocolates and serves for an exorbitant price and then one is served eight measly ones in a box that is all glitter but no gold. However, this is nothing, one has to wear designer clothes with antique jewelry which belonged to some fictitious grandmother sitting in the workshops of Jaipur being mass-produced.  The father of the bride has to just keep on saying yes and paying up from clothes, to the designer it bags to the functions that are hosted under the chandaani raat to the exotic blooms flown in from Thailand, color coordinated if you please within a bohemian touch or back to roots theme. It depends what is the year’s fancy, it can range from the icy blues to mauves to the bright yellow red to the royal maroon. And last year, I witnessed the East European bar maids where men were gawking at the goris and in the minuscule costumes serving the favorite drink.

A couple of weeks Gurdas Maan, an icon of Punjab and a singing giant sang a duet with Diljit dosanjh (someone who is reaffirming that being a sardar is also cool and one can have swag; my sons taught me this); that Ki banu Duniya daa. Where he cries in his soulful voice over the changing times where modernity triumphs over tradition and the dwindling memories of the bygone era. The time of today where the old ways are lost at the cost of showing off, materialism, projection of an image where we ransom ourselves to a mirage of so called modern way of life. A ,world where romance is sacrificed at the altar of cold twisted feelings of moh maya. A world where tradition is disappearing at the cost of cold emotions where relationships are weighed in money and how much the other can do for you. Love, respect is all by gone. And then as the day of the Mahatma appears we are happy that he was the father of the nation but thank God 2^nd came on a Friday and we could combine it with the week end, perfect to escape away for three days and to update for the face book. And, as we write this weddings, bhogs all multiply and one has to plan visits to the daarzi to get the special outfit that would make the women go green.

October is also known as the start of MBA , marriage , bhog , ardaas when we all start dusting out our shawls to not give us warmth but to show how much  money we have spent along with the sparkle of diamonds.

He rightly says, what will happen to the worlds? Only the almighty knows and the heavenly star, and the old man under the banyan tree. It’s a sad world where elegance and old world charm is dissipating for the so called mundane, carnal!

Even , the Mahatama had to be shown to us his country men by a foreign producer forever immortalized by Gandhi and later by Lage Raho and only dusted on the day by our politicians for the manipulative public.

Spiritual yearnings

The apple dropped. Sometimes a single perosn’s presence and his words keep on reverberating and one keeps thinking about them as if they were said for you. Then, you read a book again and finally the penny drops. However, every time I try to write, I fail miserably. It just doesn’t begin to convey what I feel or what I am experiencing.

When Shams and Rumi met for the first time, and the two souls that were entwined and interconnected tested each other’s auras like lovers meeting for the first time. Shams asked, Rumi an innocent question, which was blasphemy at first but was deep rooted and held the entire gist of religion, humanity and its ethos in it.

He asked who is greater – Prophet or Sufi Saint Bistami?

This was never heard of! How could one even begin to compare the two in the same breath? The Prophet had said,” Forgive me, God, I couldn’t know as thee as I should have and Bistami said,’ Glory be to me, I carry God Inside me.”

Shams questioned if one man feels he is large enough to carry God within his cloak while the other feels he is small in relation to God. Who is greater?

Rumi was taken aback and then realized what Shams was trying to say and then answered saying-

God is an ocean of endless love, and all human beings will take the amount of water out of as according to his need plus what he can assimilate according to his capacity. Some will take water in a thimble, some in a cup, some will drown and some will take a barrel. The proficiency to absorb depends upon the person. We all see the water in front of us but will all drink accordingly to the thirst. The osmosis depends upon the sponge.

Bistami ‘s container was small; it could get contained, in a small sip. His thirst was quenched and he thought that with this he could contain God within him. He recognized the Divine in himself but there was a distinct line between God and self. Union was not achieved. The line was till there between them .The demarcation of the Self with the Divine did not end. However, the Prophet and his cup were larger, his thirst was greater. He was the Elect of God. God asked him in Quran, ‘Have you not opened your heart? His heart widened, his cup was bottomless, and thirst upon thirst was there for him.

No wonder, he said, we do not know you, as we should. However we knew him better than anyone.

In the same fashion Babaji was giving a discourse and his parable was on Guru Nanak Devji who was siting with his disciples and his family. Amongst the gathering sat Guru Angad Devji. Guru Nanak Devji asked everyone what was in his hand? It was quite visible that there were three takas. Everyone wondered that why is he asking this? He was the head the Guru; everyone knew that these were three takas. His son’s also said that these are takas , but then he questioned Guru Angad Dev ji what it was. Guru Angad Dev ji couldn’t answer. Guru Nanak Dev ji again asked, once, twice, and again and then after prodding him again, he answered and said that how can I say what this is in your palm?

He answered and said, countless are the stars; countless are the galaxies and the planets. It is similar to having the entire universe in your palms; so how can I say what is there and enumerate? He was struck with so much remorse and sadness that he could not carry on.

Guru Angad Dev ji is Babaji’s hero; because He says he was the only one who lived his life on the principle of Sat bachan .

I feel that we need to realize that he lies within us, and in the same fashion we are contained in Him. We know not what we have and keep on searching for it elsewhere and then fail miserably in searching; not realizing that he was within us all the time.

Soaking in the higher presence and the spirit is what it is all about .

Ps: this is what I felt like , so I wrote . Apologies before hand.

the two truths

Last week we had a Saint who graced us with his presence and we were honored with a sat sang that spanned for two days, where first hand we were imparted many a words of wisdom. I don’t know if all we could assimilate absorb but as they say maybe osmosis and with him there was an aura of positive vibration that permeated at home.

His gist was simple, as always, the corner store of all the philosophy that he says has motivated are “Sat bachan” and Bhana manana. Sat bachan means to accept what ever order or task is given, to accept it without grumbling or to contradict. It means to accept without raising an objection.

The second is bhana manana, which he says is the highest form of spiritual attainment. He explained that it meant to follow all that came in one’s way as God’s will and not to question or to even react. Just to accept. In fact, in acceptance lies everything. We go through life, by questioning and always grumbling and saying Why this or why that. Babaji says combinations of sat bachan and bhana mananas is the only way in tandem can one move forward in life and attain higher consciousness.

Sometimes, one is blessed, and the growth is helped or accelerated; in such a fashion Daarji told me that our consciousness could only be awakened when we kill our ego and accept what comes our way by keeping the graph static. Whatever comes our way, no highs no lows, just not to react. Reaction means that the situation has taken over our emotions and has clouded our thoughts to make us react either in an angry or passionate way. Reacting to a situation is manifold, chemical changes happen, physically we get affected, stress, anger, tension, depression to name a few. But one needs to be the same, emotionless and then only we can begin to tame the monkey in our mind.

Rajneesh narrated a story, where a group of sadhus were travelling in the forest and in the evening were told by the head sadhu to got to the nearby village to beg for some food and they all went there. They cam back empty handed and disappointed. The head sadhu said this is exactly what I had wished for, that you all came back empty handed.

This story illustrates how we need to change, mold ourselves in such a way that even faced with adversity we should see the positivity in it.

Forever, we need to react in the same way.

There is no need to look for external sources for our happiness. The seed lies within us and may it flower in all of us.